Shades of Grey
by drippingpineapple
Summary: What if Tom Riddle had a twin sister? Join Tom and Violet on their times at Hogwarts. (im clearly trash at summaries)


Tom Riddle sits on the edge of his cot and thinks. Tom Riddle was, and still is, an exceptional child. He didn't care for the games the other children played. He was special. The only person who understands him is his sister, his twin sister, Violet. They did things they couldn't explain, they could talk to snakes--though snakes mostly just talk about the weather, they're quite boring actually. Luckily, the workers at the orphanage fell head over heels for their charm. Unfortunately, the lady running the orphanage--they never bothered to remember her name--couldn't be charmed like every other adult.

One day, the lady says that they have a visitor, they don't get visitors often. In fact, in the whole eleven years of their lives, they hadn't had one single visitor. The man enters Toms bedroom, he has short white hair and a small beard. He looks around the room. The two children's eyes follow his every move.

'Go.' Tom says. The man takes a step into the room and sits down on Toms cot, Tom stands and takes a seat next to Violet on a chair that faces the bed.

'You're the doctor aren't you?' Violet asks, her face unreadable.

'No,' The man corrects. 'I'm a professor.'

'I don't believe you.' Violet says 'She wants us looked at, they thinks we're…'

'Different.' Tom finishes for her.

'Well perhaps they're right,' the man says.

'We're not mad.' Tom scowls

'Hogwarts is not a place for mad people. Hogwarts is a school, a school of magic.'

The two children look curiously at the mad sitting in front of them.

'You can do things can't you? Things the other children can't.'

'We can make things move without touching them' Violet says

'We can make animals do what we want without training them.'

'We can make bad things happen to people who are mean to us. We can make them hurt, if we want.'

'Who are you?' Tom asks, his voice sharp, his face scowling

'I'm like you, I'm different.'

'Prove it'

The wardrobe bursts into flames, and the sound of metal clanging can be heard.

'I think there is something in your wardrobe that wants to get out.' The man says

Tom stands up and opens the burning door, there in the centre of his wardrobe, untouched by the flames, sat their trinket box. Tom grabs it and starts placing trinkets on his bed.

'Thievery is not tolerated at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts you'll not only be taught how to use magic, but how to control it. Do you understand?'

The professor is standing, ready to leave. Tom gives him a little nod and he looks in Violets direction, she gives a subtle nod. He takes his leave when Violet remembers something.

'We can speak to snakes too.' The man freezes in his tracks 'Is that normal for someone like us?'

The man gives a small nod and leaves.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'The man looked hesitant to nod.' Violet says to Tom.

They're at the beach, Wool's Orphanage went to the beach every summer, usually near the end. It was to remind them that 'summer was coming to an end' and 'meant to be a fun memory'. Tom and Violet normally stayed in the shade while the other children played in the hot summer sun. They are currently sitting in a cave, the other children usually came here to cliff dive. The old lady banned cliff diving after some kid got a concussion. Tom and Violet never quite understood why the other children still bothered them. Last year, someone tried to push Violet down the cliff and suddenly the boy had a concussion. Two years back, someone's pet bunny ate one of Toms carrots, the next day the bunny was seen hanging from the vents.

'We also didn't steal those things, they're souvenirs.' Tom huffs, lying down on the cold stone floor. Violet sits with her feet dangling off the cliff and her hands behind her back to support her.

'You know, I found a secret passageway.' Violet sighs 'But you have to move a boulder to get to it, after you move the boulder there's a revine. It intrigues me. There are snakes, snakes that don't talk about the weather.'

'We're leaving tomorrow. Too bad we have to come back every summer.' Tom stares up at the stone ceiling 'We could convince the teachers to let us stay, say that they treat us like prisoners. Say that we have a living relative somewhere.'

'Isn't the old guy in charge of us?' Tom raises an eyebrow at his sister 'He found us, I assume he doesn't want us there during the Summer. He didn't seem to like the fact that we can talk to snakes.'

'He really didn't.'

The Riddle twins always had a strange ability, they can see other people's thoughts. It was probably second strangest, right after talking to snakes.

'He was an easy one,' Tom says 'his brain had a few doors though.'

'Tom?' His sister asks warily 'I don't think we should tell people we can talk to snakes.'

Tom nods in agreement. They spend the rest of their afternoon staring up to the stone ceiling, listening to water drip onto the caves stone floors.

They enter a shop, Olivanders was the shop's name. It sells wands was what the old man said, the two children found out his name. Albus Dumbledore, he said it so recrudently, they thought he must be ashamed of something related to his name, the death of a family member perhaps.

An old man sat behind a desk, lots of old people in the wizarding world. The man narrows his eyes.

'I've never seen you before, what are your names?'

'I'm Tom Marvelo Riddle and this is my sister, Violet Merope Riddle.' Tom says.

'I remember every wand I ever sold Mister and Miss Riddle. The name Riddle is one I've never heard of. You two give off a strong magic though. Curious.' The man pauses to look at the two children once again. 'Let's start with you Mister Riddle.' The man walks away from the counter to find a wand in the shelves and shelves of wands in his shop. He returns with a brown box, places it on the counter and tells Tom to 'Give it a wave.'

Tom waves the wand and a strong wind blows in the shop. Tom places the wand back on the desk when the man goes even further back and grabs a small black box, he walks back and places the box on the table. Tom takes the wand and gives it a wave, they do this process a few times before, finally, a small light shines from the tip of a wand.

'13", Yew and phoenix feather. '

The man goes to get another small box and discards it in an unsettling large pile of wand boxes. Violet grabs the wand and waves it. A low pitched sound is produced. The old man takes the wands and examines them.

'Interesting. Miss Riddle, 11", Holly and phoenix feather. You and your brothers phoenix feathers come from the same bird.' he sees the children's confused faces 'It means they're brother wands, you two have a special connection. This phoenix managed to give two feathers.'

Tom and Violet sat alone in a compartment, it was understandable. Who would want to sit with two people dressed in rags?

Surprising both of them, the door swings open and a boy with platinum blonde hair waltzes in, following him are two more boys.

'Anyone else sitting here?' the blonde haired boy asks

Violet glances at Tom, he rolls his eyes and she hides her smirk.

'Nope' she says, looking back at the textbook laid on her lap.

'Who are you?' the blonde boy asks--no, demands.

'Why should I tell you?' Tom asks, he raises an eyebrow at the blonde boy.

'Because,' the boy says, his voice seething with confidence 'I'M Abraxas Malfoy.'

Violet raises an eyebrow 'Clearly your name isn't that famous if we don't know who you are.'

Abraxas' face becomes a cherry red.

'Well,' he stammers 'I wouldn't think you mudbloods would know a thing anyways.'

Violet snorts 'Mudblood?' her voice shows her amusement, it's almost taunting 'is that the best insult you can think of? Why should I know your name anyways? Malfoy is a pretty normal name.'

'Well,' Abraxas' voice is full of pride 'MY family are successful and we are one of the oldest wizarding families in Britain.'

This time Tom snorted 'What if the professors at Hogwarts won't like you for who you are, but instead for your money and fame?'

'What if no one actually likes your personality, they only like the fame associated with the name' Violet pauses 'Malfoy' she somehow contorts the name to sound like an insult.

'Like a mudblood like you would know anything!' Abraxas' face is definitely darker than blood. In fact, it's turning slightly purple (violet, if you will).

'We can help you make your own name you know?' Tom says 'Become different, stand out.'

'Mhm,' Violet nods 'we can make you the best Malfoy since the beginning of time.'

'I'm Tom Riddle, this is Violet Riddle. I think we'll be great friends.'

Violet gives him a small smile that would make anyone's heart falter.

The sorting was a bore. Tom and Violet didn't pay the students much attention, instead they observed the teachers. Until Toms name was called, that is.

'Riddle, Tom' the man holding the scroll says

Tom walks up the steps towards the stool where the hat lay.

Before the hat even touches his head it bellows 'Slytherin'. A slow clap rises from the Slytherin table.

'Riddle, Violet' the man holding the scroll says when the clapping has died down.

Violet walks up to the hat and before it can touch her hair it yells 'Slytherin' for the school to hear. The sound of clapping fills the hall as Violet sits down next to her brother. When it dies down the next name is called and this process is repeated many more times.


End file.
